Various apparatus has been made available heretofore for purchasers or suppliers of flat multiconductor cable and IDC connectors to make assemblies of same, for example, in portable tool version, such as is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,386,461, and in the form of a bench press, as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,020,540. In these devices, the IDC connector is placed in a lower die and the flat cable is placed in confronting relationship with the contacts. An upper die is then applied forcibly against the lower die, forcing the cable conductors independently into electrical engagement with the contacts.
In a recent commercial product, known as the "LAT-CON.TM. 0.050 connector System" of Panduit, a reel-fed pneumatic termination press is provided wherein individual IDC connectors releasably secured to a web are fed from a reel into a press having a loading die to seat same. The particular IDC connectors usable in this system include a housing supporting the contacts and a cover overlying the contacts and supported at one end by a so-called living hinge. To insert a ribbon conductor in the seated connector, one lifts the cover pivotally about its hinge and advances the cable transversely into the connector, i.e., along an axis orthogonal to the cable longitudinal axis. With the cable so positioned, a die above the connector cover is activated to effect crimping and thus mass terminating the cable.
While the last-mentioned system adds a level of semi-automation as against the earlier two devices discussed above, it is limited in use to the IDC connectors of type having such pivotal cover. In that many IDC connectors manufactured and sold are of type different than that for which the semi-automated system is adopted, substantial need exists for accommodating in automated, or semi-automated fashion the bulk of the connectors at hand.